The Folklore of Echinoids, Micrasters & Echinocorys 

Taken from : 

" 'Formed Stones', Folklore and Fossils."  Michael G. Bassett. 

Shepherds' Crowns and Fairy Loaves

[two paragraphs omitted]

More recent folklore is centered mainly around two genera of echinoids, Micraster and Echinocorys.  The latter has a distinctive helmet- or crown-shape and is frequently referred to as the Shepherds' crown; the reasons for this are presumably related to specimens being found commonly by shepherds who would be likely to come across them weathered from the chalk while tending their sheep on the downs.  The comparison with a crown may well have been heightened by interpreting the five double rows of pores preserved on the echinoid shell as the supporting arms of the crowns similar to those worn by the monarchy in Medieval England.

Micraster is a heart-shaped echinoid which, together with Echinocorys, is sometimes known as a Fairy Loaf.  They were possibly once regarded as loaves belonging to the fairies, but more recent superstition suggested that if specimens were kept in the house the family would never go short of bread.  In parts of southern England fossil sea-urchins have also been thought to prevent milk from going sour and in some places are still traditionally placed on diary shelves. 

The folklore of fossil echinoids is also particularly strong in parts of Denmark, where they have long been regarded as thunderstones or thunderbolts from heaven.  Even today they are placed in houses and other buildings as a protection against lightning and to act as charms against various forms of witchcraft.  Plot mentioned a similar interpretation of echinoids as thunderbolts in his account of Oxfordshire.  This belief possibly stems from the superficial resemblance of the rough surface of some echinoids to nodules of the mineral iron pyrites, which have also been regarded in many areas as stones from heaven. 

Micraster Heberti

Echinocorys

Taken from : 

" 'Formed Stones', Folklore and Fossils."  Michael G. Bassett.  Department of Geology, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.  Geological Series No. 1.  Cardiff, October 1982. 

© National Museum of Wales 1982.